A Root and Growl

Summary: Artemis and his diminutive friends have returned from Hybras, to find they've lost three years. Three years that everybody else seems to have been living at an exaggerated rate. And of course, just when life starts to right itself after the sudden reappearance of everybody's favourite double act, Artemis gets an idea. But don't worry, he's only going to hide it from his closest Elfin friend.

Author's Note: Well, like all good story villains, I'm back (Not with a vengeance quite yet. That's for the next chapter). Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, they make me smile, like this:)


LEP Ops. Booth, sunrise

Foaly made a great show of adjusting his speakers. "I'm sorry Artemis, the connection must be faulty. Could you repeat that again without the cryptic air of superiority?"

The boy rubbed sleep from his eyes. Alright, so Foaly wasn't quite tripping over himself in awe, but he was undoubtedly interested.

"If my theory is correct." Artemis began slowly, enunciating clearly in a way that was obviously meant to be insulting. "Then we may be able to save Commander Root."

Whatever the centaur was expecting, it wasn't that. He practically fell out of his chair in shock, only to catch himself at the last minute and save some face. Face that he lost when he spent several seconds spluttering, attempting to mock the Mud Boy, but his sarcasm seemed to have deserted him.

The Mud Boy in question was watching the computer screen. A light had been switched on somewhere in the Ops. Booth, and he could clearly see the fairy struggling to comprehend what had been said.

Eventually, Foaly recovered enough for one word. "How?"

Artemis interlocked his fingers and stretched his arms in front of him. He was going to enjoy this.

"Simple, really. We create another time-spell."

The centaur managed to laugh at this statement. "Of course. We create another time-spell. Just like that."

"I understand it would be difficult, but -,"

"No, Fowl. It would be more than difficult. Not to mention dangerous. The Commander is gone. He's been gone for three and a half years. Everybody's moved on." The last part was said tenderly - for the centaur. He could see the sadness in a flicker behind the teenager's eyes.

"Has everybody moved on?" Artemis asked pointedly. "For some of us, it's only been six months."

Foaly glanced back at the Commander's gun, gathering dust on the weapons rack. He could still see the trail of fingerprints Holly had left on the bronze plaque earlier that night.

"No." He sighed. "They haven't. But you're talking about changing history. Three years. People have been born, died. Found somebody." His eyes flickered to a small photograph on top of the monitor. "Are you willing to change that, for just one person?"

The human hesitated. These were all things he had thought about already - and much more besides - but hearing it from someone else was entirely different. He lowered his eyes from the camera for a moment, and Foaly thought he heard a slight hitching of breath, but when Artemis looked back to the camera, he looked just as cool as ever.

"We have to try." There was a hint of desperation in his voice. "If not for Julius, then for Holly."

Her name sparked another point. "Have you told her this?"

The answer was slow in coming. "No. And I don't plan to. It would open wounds only just beginning to heal, and if it goes wrong, it could destroy her."

"And what are the chances of it going wrong? Nobody's ever rescued someone from the dead like this before. Perhaps there's a reason for that."

The boy smirked. "How do you know that? It could happen all the time, but you've never realised it." He didn't mention that he himself had saved Holly, Qwan and No.1 by using a fluctuation in time. That would raise too many more questions.

The centaur nodded. It made sense. Then again, Artemis's plans always did. "So what do you need me for?"

Artemis smiled, tiredness beginning to make his eyes droop. Now that his idea had been voiced, he could allow the fatigue in his bones to take over. "I need your help. After all, it would be difficult. Not to mention dangerous."

Haven Suburbs

A small, rather unremarkable suburban dwelling met Foaly's eyes. It looked as though it belonged to a nuclear family of Gnomes, complete with the neatly trimmed window-boxes and garish lawn ornaments littered on the front. This early in the afternoon, the family of Gnomes were likely to be asleep.

Then the top floor windows blew out.

Foaly grinned. He always liked visiting the warlocks.

Fowl Manor, Ireland, 3 p.m.

Artemis woke to the sound of a squalling baby. For a moment, he was confused, deciding that he had been kidnapped or else was still asleep. He closed his eyes again, willing himself back to sleep, or else to dream something new, but the crying persisted and eventually everything fell into place. One of his brothers obviously wanted attention. After lying there for several moments, Artemis decided he would not be able to get back to sleep, and so, with a low grunt of effort, pried himself from his bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He had been through too much in the past few days to only be allowed eight hours sleep. Whichever brother it was better have a good reason for waking him.

After almost half an hour under the hot stream of water in his shower, Artemis stepped out, dressed casually for him - a crisp, pale blue shirt and black suit trousers. He felt slightly more awake, if not more focused. There were too many things coming to a crux in his life to concentrate on any one thing.

His mother bustled past, one of the twins clamped in her arms. He was still whimpering slightly, and began to tear up again when he saw what was, to him, an unfamiliar face.

"Artemis, will you watch Beckett for a few minutes? Miles has hurt his head."

And with that, she left the teenager alone, continuing along the parquet corridor muttering comforting words in a ridiculous baby voice.

Trying not to feel upset by the apparent indifference his mother seemed to have adopted overnight to her son's reappearance, he walked to the room at the end of the hall, where the sounds of plastic hitting plastic could be heard.

Artemis hovered in the doorway, surveying his brother with a clinical fascination. They had the same dark hair and deep blue eyes - or would have done, had Artemis not swapped one with Holly - but the comparison ended there. Beckett was more tanned than Artemis, and chubbier. He also seemed to be attempting to fit a square plastic cube into a circular hole. That was not promising. It was a shame, really, after he had been named after such a distinguished novelist. Still, Artemis reasoned, one genius per generation was quite enough for the Fowl family.

A phone began to ring somewhere inside the house, but with a long-suffering sigh, Artemis sat cross-legged next to his brother and attempted to show him the right hole for the cube. Instead of conceding to the greater intellect, however, Beckett refused to let go of the block, and began a low cry. Artemis dropped the block as though scalded, and his brother went back to his puzzle, abandoning the circular hole in favour of a triangular one.

Angeline Fowl chose that moment to re-enter the twins' playroom, a still sniffling Miles balanced on one hip, and a cordless phone in her free, outstretched hand.

"A girl." She said, thrusting the phone at Artemis. "She said her name was...Minerva?" His Mother looked distinctly unimpressed at the choice of name, and it was only the fact that his heart had taken over his head, making it throb painfully, that he didn't point out the unusual names of her own children. He took the proffered phone from her, and walked into his room before answering.

Once he was sure his Mother was out of earshot, he licked his lips nervously. "Minerva?"

A strange noise, halfway between a squeak and a shout, was his reply. "You are back! Artemis, you've been gone so long, I was so worried. And it was all my fault! If I wasn't so obsessed with the stupid Nobel prize, you never would have gone. To think you could have been killed..."

Artemis blinked. Twice. Minerva was babbling so fast he could barely make out what she was saying. Still, he thought, three years of guilt could do that to a person.

He returned his attention when the line went quiet. It wasn't abrupt, but Minerva seemed to have run out of steam, and they were left with a distinctly awkward silence.

"Er..."

What was that supposed to mean? He'd only had an experience like this once before, and this time, there was no Butler around to point him in the right direction. The silence stretched on.

Artemis was seriously considering hanging up; after all, a conversation with the dial tone would probably be just as enlightening as their current one - if not more so - when something began vibrating hard against his oak wood desk. His mobile phone was in his trouser pocket, so only one other thing could be causing the vibration.

"Sorry, Minerva, I have to go." He said into the handset. He found it odd that despite the failure of their first conversation in three years, he was actually sorry to be going. "I'll call you when I can." With that, he pressed the 'end call' button on the phone, and turned his full attention to the fairy communicator, popping the lid to see not Holly's face, but Foaly's.

Artemis's feelings of disappointment evaporated instantly, to be replaced with something far worse, and more unfamiliar: anxiety.

"Well?" He snapped. "Can it be done?"

Haven Suburbs

Foalyknocked on the door of the house. He was greeted with a rather irritated voice.

"Just a minute!"

The centaur stomped his feet a little: he was not a patient creature. The warlocks could have their minute, then he would kick the door in. Artemis's idea was far-fetched, but seemingly possible. And if that possibility could bring back one of his few friends, he was going to do everything he could to fulfil it.

Five seconds before Foaly raised his hind legs, a dishevelled demon pulled the door open. Magical blue sparks played about a gash above his right eye, and he was panting slightly.

"Can I help you?"

Foaly bit back a derisive whinny. Artemis's plan had better work, for all the subservience he was going to be doing.

"Maybe. I need to ask you a few questions about your time-spells."

The demon snorted. "I know you, centaur. You'll want to bottle our magic and sell it to rich fairies who want to reminisce about the old days. Go away!"

He made to slam the door in Foaly's face, but a surprisingly strong, hairy arm stopped it from closing.

"Just answer the questions." He said, his voice straining slightly at the amount of energy he had to put in to stop the door from closing. Or so Foaly told himself. "Please. It'll help Holly."

Two younger-looking demons appeared from the shadows. One of them pulled on the older demon's arm, leading him away from Foaly and the door, and they began a private, whispered conference.

After another minute of waiting, the older demon sighed wearily, and gestured to the centaur to enter. The youngest of the demons smiled at him, and Foaly returned it half-heartedly. He remembered that particular imp. No.1, a veritable cyclone of power inside a paper bag.

The oldest demon, Qwan, sat down heavily in the living room. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose for a moment, calming himself, before turning to face Foaly.
"What do you want to know?"

The LEP technician began by explaining who Commander Root was. Lucky for him, none of the warlocks had any idea of fairy civilisation over the last ten thousand years, so Foaly could skip over the less attractive details of Root's character with no questions. The older, more experienced demons looked sceptical when Foaly suggested going back in time to save him. This was the part that Artemis had warned him about.

"How do we know that if we save this Commander, it will stop Holly coming to Hybras and saving the island? It would be a paradox for us to save him only to be still be trapped in limbo because of it. It'd cancel itself out."

The centaur nodded. "I ran some simulations on the computer. Holly was headhunted by Section Eight because of her knowledge of Artemis, who would have gone after the demons whether Root was alive or not, simply out of curiosity. I think your future is safe."

Qweffor, who had been silent up until then, began to speak, slowly, thinking about every word. "But what about other people's futures? Who's to say that bringing back this Root wouldn't kill thousands of others?"

Foaly gritted his teeth. He had never imagined having to make a case for the Commander to live. Then again, he had never expected Opal Koboi to ever wake up from her coma. His paranoia was slipping, and it was costing the same person each time.

"Root was a good fairy. I understand the risks, but Artemis and another of the demons has proven that time can be changed - the Gaudí mosaic. There will be consequences, and I accept that, but Haven needs a leader. Trouble Kelp is still too new to be of any real impact. We have to try."

It was the sincerest thing he had ever said, and the room was deafeningly silent in its wake. Qwan tapped his chin, thoughts creasing his brow, while Qweffor was staring, unfocused, into the next room. Only No.1, whose knowledge of the warlock arts was still too limited to make the decision, contented himself by conjuring a small kitten made entirely of blue sparks.

Foaly shifted on his hooves. Everything rested on their answer, and he was just beginning to get used to the idea that his world could be how it used to be again. It wasn't fair that it could be snatched back with one single word.

Qwan cleared his throat. "Get Fowl on the line. I think it's time I spoke to the organ-grinder."

A few minutes later, Foaly had jury-rigged a communicator to send a signal that reached the surface. Qwan watched him work, fascinated. The centaur had to keep up a constant stream of techno-babble to confuse the warlock - after all, it wasn't every day that Foaly didn't understand something. Payback time.

Artemis's face filled the com-screen. He didn't look happy. "Well?" A tinny voice snapped from the microphone. "Can it be done?"

Foaly opened his mouth, delighted to have someone to needle after spending almost an hour showing careful deference. Before he had chance to reply, however, Qwan elbowed him out of the way.

"I want to know, young human, why you are willing to potentially destroy the world for this one insignificant elf."

Artemis willed himself to be calm. "If there is a chance I can save my friends, I will do anything in my power to try. And Commander Root was far from insignificant."

"And yet the world seems to have continued without him."

When the boy next spoke, there was a tinge of desperation in his voice. "Please. All I'm asking is for you to try. I've saved you, and No.1, and Holly using the time-spell. Why is this any different?"

"There is a lot of difference between one minute and three years, boy!" Qwan barked. "Do you realise how much will be changed?"

"No, because nobody will know the world is any different! We've missed three years we weren't supposed to, yet nobody questioned it!"

The elder demon opened his mouth to argue back. And then closed it again. The human had a point.

"Alright. We'll try. But if we get back to our time and there's a slight hint of a worse world than this one, then this fairy goes back to being dead."

Foaly let out a strangled cry and hugged the warlock around the head. Qwan pulled himself free, shot a dirty look into the com-screen, and closed the tiny gadget.

Up on the surface, Artemis smiled as the screen went black. Wise though the warlock may be, nobody outsmarted Artemis Fowl the second when he had something he wanted.

LEPrecon Headquarters, moonrise

Newly reinstated Corporal Holly Short burst through the double doors of the LEPrecon section of the LEP headquarters almost a minute late. By most standards, that wouldn't have counted, but Holly had spent too long under Commander Root's regime to feel that her lateness would go unpunished. Straightening her spine so she stretched to her full, one metre high height, she walked past the Commander's office, bracing herself for reprimand. She walked past the door.

Nothing happened.

She allowed herself to breathe out after she crossed the width of the office, and began to make her way over to her old cubicle.

However, before she reached her desk, the Commander's door was wrenched open.

"Capt...ah, Corporal Short! Could I see you for a moment?"

Holly sighed. Here we go again.

She slouched into Trouble's office, her head down. She was used to arguing back with him, back when they had been the same rank. If she did that now, he could quite easily have her badge.

"I have an assignment for you."

Her head shot up. No yelling? No threats about being kicked off the force? Then she noticed Trouble's expression.

"What sort of assignment?"

"It's a simple reconnaissance. Nothing for a professional like you. Just to ease you back into it, that's all. Not even above ground."

Holly advanced on the desk, looking surprisingly menacing. "Where?"

Trouble avoided her eyes. The gnomes of the Brotherhood of Bog had to pick today to go above ground. It was an LEP nightmare.

"E37."


E37, huh? Now why would Holly have to go there?

This chapter is a lot more technical (Time travel is hard to get your mind round). If you've noticed any points that don't make sense, or if I've missed any points, don't be afraid to tell me (you're allowed to tell me if you liked it, too!).